Made in 1932 and released early in 1933, The Shadow Laughs was Cesar Romero's first film. Alas, I didn't recognize him, and I've no desire to re-play the good quality Alpha DVD.
Written and directed by prolific Hollywood hack, Arthur Hoerl, the movie is hard to follow, although it does have some good scenes (the reporter gate-crashing the bank), plus a really lovely heroine in Rose Hobart, who unfortunately disappears for long stretches, leaving all the running to a poorly photographed, overly verbose and somewhat sickly-looking hero, Hal Skelly.
The movie's main fault is that its continuity rarely makes sense. The plot (if you can call it that) simply doesn't hang together. Another disappointment, of course, is that the shadow who does the laughing is not our Shadow at all!
So what we ultimately end up with here is a misnamed movie, made on a "B" budget, saddled with an unintelligible plot and a male lead with little or no charisma!
Written and directed by prolific Hollywood hack, Arthur Hoerl, the movie is hard to follow, although it does have some good scenes (the reporter gate-crashing the bank), plus a really lovely heroine in Rose Hobart, who unfortunately disappears for long stretches, leaving all the running to a poorly photographed, overly verbose and somewhat sickly-looking hero, Hal Skelly.
The movie's main fault is that its continuity rarely makes sense. The plot (if you can call it that) simply doesn't hang together. Another disappointment, of course, is that the shadow who does the laughing is not our Shadow at all!
So what we ultimately end up with here is a misnamed movie, made on a "B" budget, saddled with an unintelligible plot and a male lead with little or no charisma!